The present disclosure relates to vehicle monitoring technology, and more particularly to methods for increasing vehicle safety by monitoring a vehicle whose operator has been detected to have an abnormal physical condition.
A driver's abnormal physical condition could lead to unsafe driving causing an accident. A driver may suffer a debilitating medical condition and may lose his/her consciousness temporarily and drive erratically to cause a havoc on the road. A person suffering a seizure can lose control of his/her body, change the way he/she acts and senses things, or makes him/her unconscious suddenly. If a driver suffers a seizure while driving, the driver could lose control of the car and cause a crash.
Epilepsy is another a common neurological disorder that can involve loss of consciousness, convulsive movements or other motor activity, sensory phenomena, or behavioral abnormalities. Because of the potential for rapid incapacitation of the driver, and of the unpredictability of the illness, epilepsy place the individual at risk for motor vehicle crashes if the seizure occurs while driving. Statistics has shown people with epilepsy are more likely to be involved in a traffic accident than people who do not have the condition, although reports range from minimally more likely up to seven times more likely.
Sleep disorders are also responsible for many motor vehicle crashes. For example, sleep apnea is a common disorder affecting a substantial portion of the population. The risk is obvious when someone falls asleep at the wheel. Drivers who are sleepy have delayed reactions and make bad decisions. Not only are they putting themselves in danger, but they are a risk to everyone else on the road.
Crashes due to cardio vascular disease while driving represent one possible tragic outcome for individuals with coronary heart disease, and is a source of potential danger to other road users. Sudden cardiac death as a result of an arrhythmia is the most feared complication amongst drivers with existing CVD conditions. Even a benign arrhythmia, for example supraventricular tachycardia (SVT), may cause syncope, and hence incapacitate a driver.
A number of prescription and over-the-counter medications can negatively affect a person's cognitive performance. User of certain medications, such as antidepressants, antihistamines, benzodiazepines, or other medication can impair one's driving performance, especially the elderly drivers. For example, most common antidepressants comprise sedatives that may impair one's psychomotor performance. Significant impairments in psychomotor and driving performance have been noted by various studies.
In most places, driving authorities require a driver with a medical condition that can lead to unsafe driving to follow physical checkups regularly to ensure the driver is still fit to drive. Standards and regulations have been set in many cases to prohibit a driver with certain medical condition from driving either temporarily or permanently. However it is common for people with such medical conditions to hide their condition from authorities in order not to be denied a driver's license. Even with the drivers that are known to have medical conditions that can impair their driving performance, risks still exist. For example, such a driver may simply ignore their ailments and choose to drive, and thus potentially put him/her-self and others on the road at risk. Even with a responsible driver, that he or she takes all the necessarily steps to ensure his/her fitness to driver, it is not uncommon such a driver forgets to take these steps occasionally. Data has shown most medical causes of road accidents occur in drivers who are already known to have pre-existing disease.
Accordingly, there is a need to have a driving apparatus that are equipped to detect abnormal physical conditions of a driver while driving, and to notify relevant entities to address risks associated the abnormal physical conditions.